etc. The provincial diwan was incharge of revenue administration of the
province. His responsibilities were similar to those of the central diwan
(diwan-i-kull). He acted as a check on the subedar and was directly
responsible to the central diwan. The bakshi was directly responsible to the
mir bakshi, and discharged duties similar to those of the latter. Other
provincial officials were qazi, sadr, muhtasib, etc.
Local Administration
There was a division of a province into sarkars. The sarkar was further
divided into paraganas, which consisted of a group of villages. The
administration of the sarkars and paraganas was more or less on the lines
laid down by Sher Shah. Only a few changes were made by the Mughals in
this respect.
    Groups of villages which had been combined for fiscal purposes only
were known as the mahals. Further, the provinces were also subdivided into
smaller units, known as fawjdaris, for administrative convenience. A fawjdar
was responsible for a number of paraganas but not usually an entire sarkar.
The fawjdaris were composed of smaller units known as thanas or military
outposts, controlled by thanedars. The fawjdars performed military, police
and judicial functions and also helped in revenue administration. They were
required to deal with any rebellions by the jagirdars, zamindars and amils.
Relationship between Centre and Provinces
The centre appointed the officials of the provinces, sarkars and paraganas,
and hence they were directly responsible to the centre. Further the centre
could frequently transfer the provincial and local officials in order to prevent
them from acquiring local roots and interests. Frequent tours were undertaken
by the central officers and the emperor himself in order to make the local
officials function properly. Further, horsemen as well as dispatch runners
transmitted news and reports expeditiously from different parts of the empire.
According to Ibn Battutah, the horse-post, called uluq, used royal horses
stationed at fourmile intervals. The foot-post, which was called dawa, had
three stations per mile. Between the two, the human runner travelled faster
than the horseman. Despite all